Posted on 07/27/2006 7:35:10 AM PDT by Republicain
Because he thought he might get away with it. That's why unethical people always do. They think they can get away with it.
I think this explains this rather well. Learning something new here myself.
So you are already judging him based on this preliminary test and calling him "unethical"? I'm going to wait, just like Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong, for the B test results to come back and any further response from Landis before coming to this conclusion.
This is a side issue, a quibble, but I have a problem with describing an above normal level of testosterone - a natural male hormone - as "doping." The word "doping" - to me - suggests drugs that primarily have an intoxicating effect, and which are not natural to the human body. Testosterone levels vary widely in males, and I have trouble with viewing an elevated level of this hormone as a sign of unethical behavior.
I heard that the cortosone he was using to deal with his hip (legal) can possible cause the reduction is the epistorene (sp?). Heard this on SC. Given the testing he was going to get it would be insane to dope during the race. He was tested when he was wearing the yellow jersey earlier in the race?
I don't see how a steroid injection would help him in the middle of the race. My understanding is that you have to use steroids for a period of time to get an effect. EPO (which help with oxygen uptake) is the preferred way of cheating for endurance athletes.
Hope he was clean this doesn't really make sense.
But if you read how the tests are conducted and what the normal ratios are it is for all intents and purposes impossible for the tests to be faulty. I'm sorry. This broke my heart today when I first heard about it. I rooted for him like every other person on the planet but it isn't fair to the other competitors to cheat like this. We don't give Barry Bonds any slack do we? Let's be consistent.
I suppose you believe that those male AND female body builders do that through natural means? Forget it. They all use this stuff. Huge dosages, far, far, far beyond therepeutic dosages. It is just cheating, pure and simple.
I can remember the late Bob Hoffman of yesteryear (Strength and Health) who was into body building and wrote about the dangers of this stuff and that was nearly 40 years ago. Fooling around with testosterone in these amounts, or almost in any amounts is dangerous, unethical and cheating.
What is going to have to happen is that the first offense is a lifetime ban. Anything less is futile.
Now ya got it!
I would guess the temptations was too great and that he thought the results would be buried by the Tour directors so its reputation wouldn't be further sullied. It IS insane (although not in a legal sense) to do this but he saw his Tour victory go up in smoke the day before and this was the ONLY way he could get it back. And he got caught. He probably thought if there was even a 1 in a 100 chance he could slip it by it was worth it. In hindsight, he will regret it as his career is almost certainly over and his reputation forever tarnished. A real human tragedy.
I still have a hard time believing that Landis - knowing he would be tested - in the IMMEDIATE aftermath of major disqualifications of other riders prior to the TDF, would be so stupid as to use a prohibited substance. And he wasn't found to have huge levels of testosterone, just above the limit.
I couldn't agree more with you. This tears me up as well but I had a lifetime of working with DNA tests and this is, according to my understanding, is almost as accurate. I don't think there is any reason for optimism. I'm sorry.
I think it a day late and a dollar short. If the second test comes back positive Phonek will fire him and then Landis will and may even prevail in court but it won't matter. This is not a court case. This is a public relations debacle of the first magnitude. We can all keep our fingers crossed but I think it is false optimism. I really do.
Maybe he thought he could slip a false sample in. That's been done before too.
Let me put it in these terms. If I were Floyd Landis and knew for a certainty I was clean, the very first thing I would have done was to have called a press conference and looked the camera and audience in the eye and declared unequivocally that the tests had to be wrong as I hadn't used anything. Offer to take a lie detector test. And let the press conference go on for hours or however long as there were questions to be asked. Instead he went into hiding almost immediately.
You tell me. Does this look like an innocent man to you? Not in my books. He got caught and he's trying to offer up excuses and they won't wash. It is said that everyone has their price. Evidently his was reached during this tour. It's not a pretty sight but the facts are the facts. And it's a damned shame.
Forget the Europeans. This is not about Europe or the French. This is about cheating and we can't lower our own standards just to bash France. We're better than that. If we can't win it fair and square we shouldn't win it at all. The only thing we can do is to demand that EVERYONE be treated exactly the same. Nothing more and nothing less.
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